Marisa Baena is a First-Time Winner at HSBC Match Play

In 2004 Marisa Baena was contemplating quitting the LPGA Tour. With non-exempt status and having to Monday-qualify for several events this year Baena said she would give herself two more years before changing careers. What a mistake that would have been as she finally broke through to victory today at the 2005 HSBC Women’s Match Play Championship. Playing as Marisa stated “the best golf I’ve played all season” the 60th-seed golfed confidently today finishing with a 1-up victory against LPGA Tour rookie Meena Lee.

Baena began her quest for the $500,000 first-place check by defeating number-five seed Natalie Gulbis on Thursday. She then picked off top players Grace Park, Jennifer Rosales, Karrie Webb and Candie Kung until finally being matched with 47th-seed Lee.

When asked about how she felt after six years playing on tour without a win Baena chirped, “Amazing! I mean it’s been a great week. I have no words…I made $30,000 all last year and I just made $500,000 in a week!”

Several additional prizes were offered to the winner of the HSBC. The owner of Hamilton Farm Golf Club included a one-year membership that would become a lifetime membership if the victor wins two consecutive years at the match-play tournament. Baena also received a diamond and ruby horseshoe necklace and she’ll now get a three-year tour exemption. All of these winnings constitute a huge payday for the 28-year old who joined the LPGA Tour in 1999 and has no top-ten’s and zero wins on tour.

Second place Meena Lee also came home a winner. She received $300,000 for her efforts and it was well deserved.

The rookie put on quite a show. It was her first match-play event ever and it took 18 holes for her to go 1-down to Baena. With a little over $142,000 in earnings for 2005 and one top-five under her belt so far at the LPGA Corning Classic, Lee has shown that she is a force to be reckoned with. Although short off the tee, Lee is very accurate. She is 7th on tour in driving accuracy and she gets the ball down the fairway every time. With a good short game Lee putted well and kept herself in contention. The match was even through the seventh and she won the 15th and 16th holes to get within one stroke of Baena. She then made a clutch-putt on the 17th to stay alive and force Baena to the 18th hole.

“After I went 3-down, I just told myself, ‘Let me try to get back one hole at a time,'” Lee said with the aid of a translator. “I kept repeating that to myself over and over… I thought I had nothing to lose, so I tried to play aggressively on every hole.”

Meena Lee is also in fifth place challenging Paula Creamer for the Rolex Rookie of the Year Award. Her second place finish will certainly help her efforts but Creamer is about 500 points ahead of Lee due to her recent win at the Sybase Classic.

This year’s final pairings also had a decidedly international flavor. Marisa Baena is Columbian and her opponent Meena Lee and Candie Kung who played in the consolation round are from South Korea.

Defeated by Baena in the semi-finals Candie Kung played against Wendy Ward in the consolation match. Ward wound up winning 2 and 1 to receive a third-place prize of $200,000. Fourth place took home $150,000 which is as much as some first-place tour winners receive at some events.

It was a tough day for all four players. Thirty-six holes is enough to make your legs cramp and to bring down your level of endurance. When asked about how she felt after playing a round of golf after losing your first round Ward stated, “My legs felt like I was walking around with steel poles. It seemed like there was nothing left in them. Mentally and physically we played a lot of holes.”

But Marisa Baena isn’t complaining. There will be a dual celebration in Columbia this week as Marisa’s sister Christina also won on the Futures Tour this week. “I’m sure in Colombia people are going crazy right now,” said Baena who is Columbia’s first LPGA Tour winner. “I can’t imagine the party that’s going on at my country club!”

Photo Credit: © AP.